Harold Boatner - Stilwell and the American Experience in China manuscript

Boatner was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1900. He was the child of Mark Mayo Boatner, a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute who became a respected lawyer and judge in New Orleans. Harold Boatner attended Tulane University between 1919 and 1920, where he then received appointment in 1920 to the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated in 1924. He was commissioned in the infantry in 1924. In 1928 through 1930, he served with the 15th infantry division in Tianjin, China. From 1930 to 1934 Boatner served as the assistant military attaché at the American Embassy in Peking where he then became fluent in Mandarin Chinese. In 1939, Boatner graduated from the Command and General Staff School and was appointed to the commanding officer of a forward echelon in Burma in 1942 and was promoted to brigadier general in November 1942. He then became chief of staff of the Chinese Army in Burma from 1942 to 1943. He was the commanding general of combat troops in northwest Burma from 1943 to 1944 and chief of staff of the Chinese Combat Command from 1944 to 1945. Between 1948 and 1951, Boatner was a professor of military science and tactics and a commandant of cadets at Texas A&M University. During the Korean War Boatner served as assistant division commander of the 2nd infantry division. In May 1952, Boatner was appointed to take command of the Koje-do POW Camp to suppress the uprising of Communist POWs. In 1952, Boatner was promoted to Major General. After the Korean War, Boatner was commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division from 1954 until 1955 and was promoted to Provost Marshal General of the U.S. Army between 1957 and 1960. Boatner retired from the army in 1960.

The information in this note is from the following sources:

“Haydon L. Boatner.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, January 4, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haydon_L._Boatner.